Karate Captain
by onetruthprevailsdc
Summary: Ran is the target of someone she beat up in karate club..


"Ahh! Now that was a good meal!"

The shout rang out from the middle-aged man making his way down the quiet evening street. Although he would have cut an imposing figure when sober, in his present state his cheeks were just a little too flushed and his walk just a little too crooked to betray him as the world-famous meitantei Mouri Kogoro.

On his left side, Ran sighed and steered him back to the sidewalk, which he was trying in vain to cross as he catcalled to the lady walking on the other side. "Oh, Otou-san, you have got to quit this drinking habit. It's bound to get you into trouble sooner or later. Not only that, it's also a bad example for Conan. Right?" She smiled down at the elementary school kid walking on his other side.

"You don't have to worry, Ran-neechan," he replied with a cheeky grin. "If drinking will make me turn out like Uncle, I won't ever touch a bottle as long as I liver- er, live."

"Why you little brat, I oughta…" the detective growled, his eyes having trouble focusing on the exact spot Conan was standing. "Just you wait!" He lunged at the boy, who managed to duck and run laughing into the apartment. Kogorou followed him, yelling and shaking his fist the whole way up the stairs. "Wait a minute!" cried Ran, who followed them up as well with a weak chuckle.

Meanwhile, in an alleyway across from the Mouri Detective Agency, a shadowy figure narrowed its eyes at the brightly lit windows and smirked.

A few minutes later, Ran suddenly gasped. "Oh no! I forgot to buy all the groceries for tomorrow's breakfast! Wait right here, Conan. I know Dad is sleeping, but I shouldn't take more than a half hour."

"Mh-hmm," the shrunken detective murmured absently from where he was flipping through _The Sign of Four _on the couch. Grabbing her coat and purse, Ran quickly ran down the stairs and set off in the direction of the nearest supermarket.

After she had bought all the required items, she began her walk back home. Biting her lip, she checked her watch. The line had been much longer than she had expected, and it was now almost eleven o'clock. "I still have to prepare lunch for tomorrow, and get Conan into the bath," she muttered to herself, picking up the pace. It was a chilly night, and she wrapped her scarf around her mouth and nose a little tighter.

Suddenly, she heard a sound like footsteps coming up from behind her. Narrowing her eyes, she picked up the pace, and the footprints seemed to pick up the pace too. She slowed down, and they slowed with her. Finally she stopped. They were only a half second behind hers so close she could have mistaken them as the echo of her own, but it was now evident there was someone else roaming the streets that night.

She whirled around and spun into her best defensive position. "Who's there?" Ran shouted, her words echoing throughout the dark night. She was silent for a minute, eyes straining to cut through the blackness, as the figure that had been following her all night slowly stepped into the beam of the streetlight.

Meanwhile, Conan had finished his book and was now pacing up and down the length of the apartment, bored. "Where's Ran? She's been out there a pretty long time. Going to the supermarket shouldn't take someone this long…should it?" Biting his lip, he peered through the curtains into the street. _Maybe I should go check on her, _he thought. _Yeah, better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to Ran. _Grabbing his shoes and shrugging on his coat, he too ran off towards the direction of the grocery store.

However, he managed to find her only a few blocks from the detective agency. "Ran!" he yelled, relieved. _Thank god she's okay. _But the terrified look on her face when she turned towards him froze him in his tracks. "No, Conan-kun! Don't come near me!" The boy felt his blood go ice cold.

Slowly, a man holding a gun stepped out of the shadows where he had been leaning against the wall. "Well, well, well. It looks like Mouri-san isn't alone tonight. What's your name, kid?"

"No!" yelled Ran. "Fuji-senpai, I'll do anything as long as you let Conan go back home unharmed." The man cocked his head. "Even let me kill you?"

She stayed silent, biting her lip. "I didn't think so. Anyway, as if I would do that. Then he would just run back home to call the police on me. No, can't have him going anywhere. Come stand next your big sister, huh?"

Conan slowly obeyed with a murderous glare aimed at the criminal who was pulling a gun on the person who mattered most to him in this world. "Ran-neechan, who is this guy?"

She replied, her eyes never leaving those of the man—boy really, he didn't even look to be past twenty. "This is Fuji Mamoru-senpai, a third year in high school back when I was a first year. He was the captain and ace of the karate team—"

"Until you came along!" he interrupted them. "A silly little first year girl that kicked my ass time after time when we sparred. It was humiliating. My friends lost all respect for me, and the coach even told me he was disappointed in my abilities as a captain—and that he wanted you to replace me! I couldn't stand it. Ever since I graduated, I've been concocting the perfect plan, figuring out the best possible way to end your life. Then I'll have no competition left at all!" He let out an unhinged laugh.

Ran's eyes grew wide. "You've got to be kidding me! What kind of a person takes a high school sports rivalry that seriously?"

"Shut up!" he roared, swinging the gun wildly between them. "One more word and the kid is dead!"

She didn't make a sound, but Conan saw how her jaw clenched and all her muscles tensed up, raring to be let loose on the guy in her most vicious attack yet. _Think, Shinichi, think! I need a way to get that gun away from him, then Ran could go to town. But how…? _Suddenly, he noticed a piece of brick laying on the ground not too far from them. Perfect. Slowly bending down, he moved to turn the dial on his power-kick shoes—and that was as far as he got.

Ran suddenly sprang, shouting "Duck, Conan-kun!" and shoving him several meters so he skidded to a stop behind the brick wall on the other side of the alley.

"D-Don't come near me!" the criminal yelled, throwing up the hand that held the gun and blindly shooting off a storm of bullets. Conan instinctively hit the floor, but none of them neared his direction because of the blockade the brick wall provided.

"Ran!" he yelled, jumping right back up and sprinting to her side—just to see a stray bullet graze her right thigh. She let out a gasp of pain, but only gritted her teeth and sprinted to the man's side, managing to avoid any more bullets. Within two seconds, he was lying flat on his back, staring up at the night sky and wondering how he managed to get there. The gun skittered harmlessly to rest a few meters away.

Conan immediately ran to Ran, who by some small miracle was still standing and unharmed apart from the small scratch on her leg.

"Ran-neechan! Are you okay?" However, she seemed not to hear him as she stepped over to the fallen criminal. When she next spoke, her words were sad, not angry.

"And to think that I used to respect you, Fuji-senpai. You were my idol when I first entered the club—brave, strong, and a good leader. I definitely would have said 'Not in a million years!' if I was told you would turn out like this." Fuji looked up at her, his eyes wide and tremulous.

"You…respected me? I always thought you saw me as weak, as inferior…" She smiled sadly back at him. "I _used_ to respect you. Now I'm only ashamed I used to be in the same karate club as a man whose sportsmanship is so poor that he would threaten a child to take revenge for a loss."

She took in a shaky breath and pulled out her phone, handing it to the dumbstruck boy standing next to her. "Conan, call the police. I'm definitely not letting you off the hook," she said pointedly to Fuji. "But if you ever want to see me again… visit, okay? I'd like to try sparring again. You were always the one opponent on the team I had a tough time beating."

Conan could only stare after her as she ran over to meet the squad cars that were just arriving.


End file.
